“The nail” is the term used to describe the middle of the foul line. And it’s the location from which the two teams generated a lot of their 228 points in Game 5 on Wednesday.

After a relatively quiet, seven-point, seven-shot performance in Game 4, Joe Johnson came back with 30 points on 13-for-23 shooting in Game 5. He almost single-handedly got the Nets back in the game after they went down by 26, scoring 26 of his 30 in the second half.

In Game 4, the Raptors did their best to get the ball out of Johnson’s hands when he got it in the low post. In Game 5, the Nets got him the ball away from the low post, where it was harder for Toronto to send a double-team.

Most of Johnson’s catches came at the nail, with a pair of teammates on either side of the floor…

The Nets got him at the nail with a pin-down screen from the center, which kept Toronto from being able to switch the screen and deny the catch. Here’s Andray Blatche, screening DeMar DeRozan at the weak-side block and allowing Johnson to catch and go straight to the basket for an and-one…

Johnson played just 14:31 in the first half of Game 5, picking up his second foul midway through the first quarter and his third midway through second. He played the entire second half (save one defensive possession) and still logged more than 38 minutes total.

Brooklyn scored 101 points on the 72 offensive possessions in which he was on the floor, an incredible rate of 140 points per 100 possessions. They scored 12 on 20 possessions (60 per 100) with him on the bench.

Of course, the other end of the floor was Brooklyn’s problem on Wednesday. And it was a problem mostly when the Raptors got the ball in the middle of the floor.

My Raptors team will definitely get the job done if they keep playing the way they’ve played throughout this series since game 1 at a high intensity level led by Lowry, Demar and Vasquez, it’s a sure game 6 win. Their best strategy or game plan that Coach Dwane Casey is practicing is the one they used and applied last game in game 5 through the first three quarters, the Raptors dominated the defensive and offensive ends of the floor every possession. They apply this in game 6 and also maintain the lead, the end result will be Raps defeating Nets in 6 and advancing to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals to play the Heat!!!
Let’s go Raptors!